After clearing gallery, Florida Senate approves 6-week abortion ban

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After an emotional debate including outbursts from spectators that prompted the president to clear the gallery, the Florida Senate voted 26-13 on Monday for a six-week ban on abortion.

“This legislation is unrealistic and a major overreach into our lives, and, in essence, it is a total ban on abortion,” state Sen. Linda Stewart, an Orlando Democrat, said.

The measure, which outlaws most abortions after six weeks, has been the source of lengthy, intense and emotional debate in both the House and Senate chambers, with legislators sometimes sharing their own abortion stories.

At one point during the debate, state Sen. Anna Maria Rodriguez, a Miami Republican, was speaking in favor of the bill when someone from the audience started shouting.

Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican, asked for the sergeant of arms, told the audience member to be quiet and halted the debate to demand decorum.

“Visitors in the gallery, this is a very emotional issue,” Passidomo said. “We treat members of both sides of the issue with respect and dignity and if you speak up you’re going to be asked to leave.”

A short time later, while state Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Miami Republican, was speaking, someone shouted, “People are going to die.” Passidomo asked for a 10-minute recess to clear the galleries.

Calatayud is one of two Republicans in the Senate to vote against the bill. She said she promised her constituents she would support affordable and accessible birth control and champion exceptions for rape and incest and the current 15-week ban.

The other Republican to vote against the bill was Corey Simon of Tallahassee.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is considering running for president in 2024, said last month he would sign a six-week abortion ban. “I’ve urged the Legislature to ... produce good stuff, and we will sign,” he said during a news conference.

State Sen. Erin Grall, the Vero Beach Republican lawyer who sponsored the Senate version (SB 300), made her intent of the bill more clear Friday when she introduced an amendment to rename it “The Heartbeat Protection Act.”

“This debate can’t be about religion,” Grall said. “We have to rely on science and what we know is there is a heartbeat, there is a human life that exists ... and this life deserves protecting.”

The House version (HB 7) by Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, a Fort Myers Republican, bears the title of “Pregnancy and Parenting Support.” It, too, is scheduled for consideration by the House this week.

The proposal is a near-total abortion ban because many women don’t even know they are pregnant at six weeks, opponents say.

Abortion-rights advocates also argue the bill puts the government in charge of personal medical decisions and sets up roadblocks for people who need abortion as a life-saving procedure or because they were raped.

“This decision should be between the woman and her doctor,” state Sen. Tina Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat, said.

And if a person’s personal belief is that abortion is wrong, she said, “Guess what? Don’t have one.”

The six-week window could lead to more women making snap decisions to get abortions, leading to an increase instead of a decrease in abortions in Florida, she said.

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“At best they have a two-week time frame to make a decision for all involved, taking away all autonomy from the women,” Polsky said. “That’s not how it should be in the free state of Florida. I trust the women of Florida. Do you?”

The legislation includes exemptions for rape, incest or human trafficking up to 15 weeks, but a woman or girl must provide “a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record, or other court order or documentation” providing evidence of the crime.

It also includes exceptions for the life of the mother or to avert “serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment.”

But it requires two doctors to sign off on an abortion exception for medical reasons. That’s a difficult requirement for people living in rural areas and other parts of the state where there are doctor shortages, opponents said.

One doctor can authorize an abortion if another doctor is unavailable and there is an “imminent” risk of death or irreversible harm to the mother. Abortion would be allowed if a “fatal fetal abnormality” is detected, and the pregnancy has not progressed to the third trimester.

Anti-abortion advocates would rather see a full ban on all abortions in Florida.

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Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, two dozen states have either banned or considered banning abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health rights.

Florida currently bans most abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy under a law passed last year that’s being challenged in the Florida Supreme Court. Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a 67-page brief asking the court to overturn decades of legal precedent that the state constitution’s privacy clause protects abortion rights.

She said those rulings were “clearly erroneous,” and that restrictions on abortion rest with the Legislature.

Under the bills, the six-week ban would go into effect only if the court upholds the 15-week abortion law.

Despite most people in Florida being in favor of abortion rights, state Sen. Lauren Book, a Plantatin Democrat, said, “This body has chosen an extremist agenda to essentially ban all abortions in our state.”

She gave out her office phone to those watching, saying an army of volunteers was standing by to help women find the services they need.

“This is a war,” Book said. “Today’s battle is almost over, but we must not give up the fight.”